The Russian State Duma consists of 450 seats. Half of them are elected by proportional representation, and since the “elections” have been held in Crimea and Sevastopol, this half of the seats is elected illegitimately. The other half of the seats in the State Duma is elected in single-member constituencies, and four seats are “elected” in single-member districts in Crimea and Sevastopol, which makes these four seats illegitimate too. Thus, the absolute majority of the seats in the new Russian State Duma (229 out of 450) is illegitimate.

By holding parliamentary elections in Crimea and Sevastopol, the Russian authorities hoped to legitimise their annexation internationally. Ironically, by holding the elections in illegally annexed Crimea and Sevastopol, the Russian authorities have effectively delegitimised the Russian parliament internationally.

Therefore, we call on parliaments of democratic states to take following steps:

Do not recognize the legitimacy of the State Duma.

End all inter-parliamentary cooperation between national parliaments and the State Duma.

Put on the sanctions list the four “winners” of the “elections” in the single-member districts in Crimea and Sevastopol.

Put on the sanctions list the organizers of the “elections” in Crimea and Sevastopol.

Call upon Russia to re-run parliamentary elections without holding them in Crimea or Sevastopol.

European Values Think-Tank’s Jakub Janda, Head of the Kremlin Watch Programme, put together a cohesive recommendation for the Czech Strategy against Systematic Disinformation Campaigns of Foreign Powers. This strategy proposal was developed under umbrella of Audit of National Security, organized by Interior Ministry of the Czech Republic. European Values Think-Tank served as a consultant for chapter “Influence of Foreign Powers”. Číst dále →

The European Values Think-Tank introduces a background paper “Anti-Radicalisation Measure in the EU”. Radicalisation – both political and religious – presents one of the biggest security threats for European states and their democratic systems. This paper focuses at ways how to tackle militant Islamism, which at present seems to be the most serious challenge especially in the Western Europe. The analysis was created by the Counter-Radicalisation Task Force, an expert group which analyses the trend of radicalisation among European Muslims. It is available in PDF format HERE. Číst dále →

The European Values Think-Tank is publishing a background paper “The Challenge of the Islamic State”, authored by Shmuel Bar, Senior Research Fellow at the Samuel Neaman Institute for National Policy Research, founder and CEO of IntuView Ltd. This background paper was written for the 2015 Prague European Summit. It is available in PDF format HERE. Číst dále →